Entada gigas(L.) Fawc. & Rendle

nicker bean

WFO wfo-0000211706 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Entada gigas, photographed by Luke Padon
fig. a Luke Padon, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-06-02 / obs. 203295183
Entada gigas, photographed by Clifton Ladd, C.W.B.
fig. b Clifton Ladd, C.W.B., CC BY 4.0 / obs. 105820910
Entada gigas, photographed by Rodolfo Salinas Villarreal
fig. c Rodolfo Salinas Villarreal, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 102226890
Entada gigas, photographed by Martín Sánchez Vilchis
fig. d Martín Sánchez Vilchis, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 7038976
Entada gigas, photographed by Lena Struwe
fig. e Lena Struwe, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 13439832
Entada gigas, photographed by Abby Darrah
fig. f Abby Darrah, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 186816547
Entada gigas, photographed by Skjold Søndergaard
fig. g Skjold Søndergaard, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 172883560
Entada gigas, photographed by Evelyn Lazzaretti 🏳️‍⚧️
fig. h Evelyn Lazzaretti 🏳️‍⚧️, CC0 1.0 / obs. 158218557

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 37 botanical countries

Regions where Entada gigas is native: Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, DR Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Gulf of Guinea Is., Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Sudan-South Sudan, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Belize, Central American Pacific Is., Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Leeward Is., Nicaragua, Panamá, Venezuela, Windward Is. AngolaBeninCameroonCentral African RepublicCongoDR CongoEquatorial GuineaGabonGhanaGulf of Guinea Is.Ivory CoastKenyaLiberiaSierra LeoneSudan-South SudanTogoUgandaZambiaMexico CentralMexico GulfMexico SoutheastMexico SouthwestBelizeCentral American Pacific Is.ColombiaCosta RicaCubaDominican RepublicEcuadorHaitiHondurasJamaicaNicaraguaPanamáVenezuela Leeward Is.Windward Is.
Native distribution of Entada gigas, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Angola ANG AFRICA
Benin BEN
Cameroon CMN
Central African Republic CAF
Congo CON
DR Congo ZAI
Equatorial Guinea EQG
Gabon GAB
Ghana GHA
Gulf of Guinea Is. GGI
Ivory Coast IVO
Kenya KEN
Liberia LBR
Sierra Leone SIE
Sudan-South Sudan SUD
Togo TOG
Uganda UGA
Zambia ZAM
Belize BLZ SOUTHERN AMERICA
Central American Pacific Is. CPI
Colombia CLM
Costa Rica COS
Cuba CUB
Dominican Republic DOM
Ecuador ECU
Haiti HAI
Honduras HON
Jamaica JAM
Leeward Is. LEE
Nicaragua NIC
Panamá PAN
Venezuela VEN
Windward Is. WIN
Mexico Central MXC NORTHERN AMERICA
Mexico Gulf MXG
Mexico Southeast MXT
Mexico Southwest MXS

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Where it actually grows measured, from 555 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low 10.2 °C 16.7 °C 24.2 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 26.6 °C 29.0 °C 30.7 °C
Annual rainfall 727 mm 1,446 mm 4,075 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 79 mm 213 mm 483 mm

It is not found anywhere that gets close to freezing. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 555 research-grade observations of Entada gigas that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one.

Also published as 12 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Entada gigalobium DC.
  • Entada gigas subsp. planoseminata (De Wild.) Baker f.
  • Entada gigas subsp. rectocarpa (De Wild.) Baker f.
  • Entada gigas subsp. umbonata (De Wild.) Baker f.
  • Entada planoseminata (De Wild.) G.C.C.Gilbert & Boutique
  • Entada planoseminata (De Wild.) G.C.C.Gilbert & Bout
  • Entada scandens subsp. planoseminata De Wild.
  • Entada scandens subsp. rectocarpa De Wild.
  • Entada scandens subsp. umbonata De Wild.
  • Entada umbonata (De Wild.) G.C.C.Gilbert & Boutique
  • Entada umbonata (De Wild.) G.C.C.Gilbert & Bout
  • Mimosa gigas L.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.